(Newser)
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After a week full of headlines likely to have Donald Trump's advisers tearing their hair out, there's a bright spot for his campaign: He's narrowing the fundraising gap with Hillary Clinton, helped by a Bernie Sanders-style flood of small donations, NPR reports. The Trump campaign says it and joint fundraising committees raised $82 million in July—including $2 million from Trump himself—compared to around $90 million for Clinton, who ended the month with $58 million on hand, compared to $37 million for Trump, whose campaign was $40 million behind Clinton at the beginning of June, with just $1.3 million on hand.

The Trump campaign says the bulk of the cash has come from small donations, most of them made online, reports the New York Times, which notes that this is a big change for a campaign that was "largely funded by hat and T-shirt sales and by Mr. Trump's wallet" until recently. "We are extremely proud of our 69% growth in small-dollar donations, which shows the broad-based support of over 1 million donors across America," says Steven Mnuchin, Trump's finance chairman, per CNN. Small donors may be Trump's only chance of closing the fundraising gap: Major GOP donors and fundraisers have been steering clear of his campaign, including Meg Whitman, who says she will raise funds for Clinton instead.

How much of the will be used to pay himself back for money he spent on his primary campaign.

George Black

Aug 4, 2016 4:50 PM CDT

This has to be one more thing for the libs to freak out about. Up until July he had only spent 3 million and took Clinton to the cleaners. What can Donny do with 48 million and his knack for attention? Destroy Clinton - is the answer. Viva Trump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Supernu

Aug 4, 2016 1:13 PM CDT

What difference does it make? Gap or not, he can use his personal wealth.